By Lauren King, June 14, 2016

Leading multichannel retailer N Brown Group – whose brands include JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo – is set to integrate cutting-edge intranet software in order to improve communication, increase engagement and promote agile working amongst its employees.

Manchester, UK, 14 June 2016: Expanding global retail specialist N Brown will work in partnership with intranet experts Interact, to deliver a cutting-edge digital solution to its internal communications strategy this year. The initiative supports their strategy to become a digital-first organisation.

“We now see over 60% of demand coming from online, as the market continues to shift towards a technology-dominated arena. As part of our future growth strategy and transformation programme, we are investing heavily in our colleagues and systems to ensure we rise to that challenge, placing a digital-first mind-set at the forefront of our mission”, explains People Director, Caroline Massingham.

“With over 2,500 employees spanning over different brands, locations and roles, ensuring our employees remain engaged with the N Brown vision to be the universally loved experts in ‘fashion that fits’ is a considerable challenge. When investing in the overhaul of our intranet we were therefore looking for a partner who not only demonstrated cutting-edge technological solutions, but would also help support our communications and engagement strategy and facilitate agile working throughout the Group.

The new N Brown Group Intranet is set to launch later this year, combining a fresh interface with future-proofed technology, social tools and collaborative apps to integrate with existing business processes. The Interact solution will also boast a comprehensive search facility, enabling users to source colleagues and information easily and efficiently through the use of keywords and tagging. A cloud-based platform, it will be accessible for all users regardless of location or platform.

“The existing intranet system utilised by the N Brown Group was failing to match its vision for a “digital first” approach to driving business forward,” said Nigel Danson, Interact CEO and Founder.

“The governing objective was to roll out a fresh solution that supports the communications and engagement strategy, and would also facilitate agile working, enabling users across the range of different brands, roles and locations to collaborate and identify with the brand mission and values. Our expertise in this field has enabled us to rise to the challenge. In particular, our ability to integrate social tools will enable users to like, share or comment on content, while an intelligent search functionality ensures users are able to not only source information but also colleagues more effectively. By breaking down previous barriers to communication, we can facilitate a new approach to employee engagement for the Group.”

Interact is the leading provider of intelligent intranet software for retail organisations globally, serving large retailers such as ASOS, AO.com, Waterstones, James Perse and Sheetz.

Lauren King

Lauren joined the senior management team in November 2015 with strong B2B cloud technology marketing experience. Not afraid to challenge the status quo, Lauren has successfully driven marketing efforts within high-growth technology start ups as well as large global tech distributors. Lauren leads our UK and US marketing teams with the aim of growing our brand presence across the globe.